


The only exception

by HikariHM



Category: Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma, Divorce, Family Issues, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:08:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27129701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HikariHM/pseuds/HikariHM
Summary: Steven knew it ever since he was a little kid: Just like his parent’s marriage, love was doomed to end, and if he risked it, if he gave too much away, just like that one time, it would be all his fault. It was better off to always keep a comfortable distance, to not believe foolish lies such as life lasting love was.Yet... for Wallace, he could always make an exception.
Relationships: Mikuri | Wallace/Tsuwabuki Daigo | Steven Stone
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	The only exception

Steven reminisced it that one day when, at Glacia’s wedding, Wallace caught the bouquet, and every single one of the girls gathered around him to squeal and congratulate him for being ‘the next in line’, staring at Steven inquisitively and to joke, while Wallace just shook his head laughing, yet blushing, because even if that was a little dream of his and it was obvious, Wallace also knew. _He knew._

Steven was 8 years old when it happened. He was at the kitchen, having his rainbow cereals for dinner with his mom, when his dad arrived and the gentle atmosphere dissipated. 

He joined them in the table, and Steven looked up at him, happily; he loved him a lot, after all, and always was happy whenever his awesome Dad who loved rocks as much as he did was around.

“Hello, Daddy!”

He smiled back at him, tiredly, “hello, Stevie.”

And his mom just got another mouthful of her salad, rolling her eyes at his Dad, and the three of them remained silent.

When Steven meant to cheer up things by telling his Dad about this cool rock he found on his way back to school, he got interrupted.

“Could you lend me the marmalade, Edith?”

She grunted and pushed it in his direction, barely eyeing him, and the jar almost fell to the floor to break.

And that was enough.

“If you have an issue with me just say it right away,” fed up, his father exclaimed.

“Just an issue, Joseph? I have plenty of them!”

And he snorted, bitterly, “I hate to fuck my back all day at work to have you two living well and like royalty, for me to come back to your silly reproaches. Not even a greeting, no, it’s always you being a jerk to me.”

“Hah, don’t come back then, I’m so at ease until you arrive to play the victim as you always do!”

“Play the victim, Edith? After all I do?”

She snickered mockingly, exasperatedly, “go ahead! Play the victim, Mr. boss!”

“Why can’t I fucking talk to you without you getting bitter over literally anything?”

“And why won’t you stop playing the victim?”

“You are crazy!”

His mom lost her temper, “yes! I’m crazy! It’s always my fault, isn’t it? That I’m crazy!”

The discussion was about to heat up and run in circles, so Steven just covered his ears with his hands and ran to the library, where the loud bickering would be heard less. 

And there, he tried to shut himself down, to block away the noise of his parents arguing by reciting by memory the properties of alkaloid minerals, while there were tears in his eyes, blurring his view as his chest felt heavy, too heavy.

The following days, when the white bouquet was either way standing in the dining table, each time Steven saw it he remembered. 

He used to have a lot of nightmares. In his nightmares, he was in a boat with his school friends, and then, he accidentally fell into the ocean and he began to drown. No one was helping him and he couldn’t get out of there. And then, a big sharpedo would approach him with its big mouth open ready to eat him, and when the horribly sharp teeth found his flesh

Steven woke up, all sweated, holding on to Rocky -his rock pet, crying, and so he decided to go to his parent’s room, but-

They weren’t there. They were apparently at the kitchen as their voices seemed to come from there. And Steven really wanted his mommy and daddy to hold him and tell him that it had been just a bad dream, that no Sharpedo was going to harm him, and tuck him back in bed.

But as he approached with his tiny and silent steps, he listened...

“Divorce me if you aren’t happy, then. I’m trying my best to make this work, but I feel so undervalued that... I rather not have you than having you like this.”

His mom was crying, unable to stop, “it’s... this doesn’t feel like a marriage for me anymore, Joseph. I know you are busy... but I felt like an underdog. Like I’ve lost all my value as a woman if my husband doesn’t even want to touch me now, let alone make some time for me.”

Steven took a step closer, knowing he shouldn’t intrude, that he shouldn’t spy on adults conversations, but...

His dad was so pale, so lifeless, “Devon has been a part of me since I was on my mom’s womb. I was conceived to take after it. I can’t leave Devon behind.”

“But I’ve let myself behind and... only became Joseph Stone’s wife, but there’s nothing more, I have no life outside of this and it’s not worth it because you don’t pay attention to me either.”

Defeated, the man sighed, “it isn’t good for Steven to watch us fight all the time. We have to think about him, so, if you have to do it...”

She sobbed, “I know it isn’t good for Steven. I feel like shit everytime I see his face in the morning and he’s tear-stained. And, when I think of maybe ending this, I ask myself... what’s going to happen with Steven if we divorce?”

At that moment, Steven returned to his room so quickly, hurt, pained that his mommy and daddy didn’t want to be together anymore, that they were considering divorce, and he did it so quickly that his footsteps were heard and his parents rushed to his room when he smashed the door.

“Stevie!”

“Son, please, open up the door!”

“My baby, please, come here-”

Steven was crying under the blankets, holding tight to Rocky, feeling so alone, because his mommy didn’t love his daddy anymore, because his daddy wasn’t asking her to stay, because they didn’t love him enough to remain together even if it was for him and his happiness. 

“Stevie!”

“Stevie, love, please...!”

“I’m so stupid.”

“Stevie!”

One day when Steven was buying the fabrics Wallace needed for his next costume, he got unwanted flashbacks of past relationships, all of them failed; he had this bitter feeling that everything was going to end, that it wasn’t even worth the shot, that eventually someone would fuck up remorseless, and that he would be most likely the one to.

And he remembered the first time he had that dreary, fatalistic feeling throbbing on his stomach. 

His mommy had packed all her bags already, she was leaving to Kalos that day. They wouldn’t be taking her to the airport as she didn’t want things to be more difficult. The divorce had already be signed, the act expedited, and it was official; his mommy and daddy weren’t in love anymore.

Mommy promised to write to him a lot, to visit him every now and then, to send him presents. She swore that even if she was leaving for another region, she loved him a lot and that he’d be better off with his Daddy, that it was Daddy who needed him around the most, and who would make a better parenting job.

And so, Steven watched his mom leave after giving him a kiss to his forehead and saying, “be a good boy and please take good care of your daddy, okay? I love you and I’ll always do.”

And like that, she left. And the moment that door was shut, his dad cursed to the wind, and began to cry so uncontrollably that he had to withdraw himself to the library, which he locked after a harsh, infuriated smash.

Steven cried all evening long. All night. Joseph didn’t go out of the library, and he cried while eating his rainbow cereals alone, offended by how colorful these were, as if they were mocking him. He cried at school the next day, with his uniform untidy. He cried to the teacher when she asked him why he didn’t do his homework. He cried when daddy sent one of his drivers to pick him up. He cried a lot. 

And one night, when he had a nightmare again, the very same nightmare of the Sharpedo eating him alive, this time adding to it him accidentally throwing his little cousin Roxanne to the ocean, Steven woke up and decided to go and get himself inside his daddy’s bed.

But when he arrived at his room, his dad wasn’t sleeping, no; he was at the edge of the bed, sobbing.

That broke Steven’s heart, because he had seen his Daddy so sad all those days; it hurt to see his dear Daddy crying like that, feeling so undervalued, stupid, as he had put it down himself. And Steven felt so bad for him, so bad that love had finished, so angry at the situation, at him and his mom at the same time.

“Ah, Steven,” he tried to wipe his tears, but Steven had seen enough.

And he kept approaching him.

“Go back to sleep, Stevie, you have to wake up for school early tomorrow.”

But Steven placed his hands on his face and tried to wipe his tears even if he was crying some now too.

“Don’t cry, Daddy, I don’t like to see you like this.”

The man tried to laugh, to brush off the immense pain on his heart, “I’m okay. Just a little tired and stressed for work.”

And Steven shook his head, knowing it was a blatant lie and ready to confront it and accept his faults, deciding to turn all the ire he felt against his parents, to himself, “I’m sorry that you couldn’t spend more time with mommy because of me. I’m sorry I was a burden.”

That made him cry even more, “no, no, my boy. It isn’t your fault, it... it isn’t your fault, it’s mine, alright? Your mommy made her desicion and we should respect it, alright? But it wasn’t your fault, don’t think that. This is my fault.”

Steven struggled to see how this couldn’t be his fault; he was a burden, and the proof was that his mom decided to leave without him.

And to listen to his father sobbing ‘ _it’s my fault_ _’_ , while holding him so tight and trying to find some comfort on him and his tiny, weak and helpless being, some reason to keep moving on, made it clear for Steven.

Love didn’t exist. Love always was doomed to end. To end in insults and arguments and tears and tragedy. He had witnessed it with his parents, later with friends, later with himself.

Vowing to a person that one is going to love them forever was foolish; such thing as eternal love didn’t exist. People changed, people changed their minds, people made desicions, and pretending at young ages that love was going to remain the same forever was stupid.

Marriages were to fail. Marriage was the fastest way to send everything to shit. Marriage only was worth to complicate goodbyes, divorces, to create more bickering about who gets what, who gets the custody of the kid, who gains the most and who loses more. Marriage only tied up people and turned them unhappy. 

And so, in every resignated relationship Steven had, he always chose to not go in too deep, to not give much away. Until it all blended into a messy swirl of failure and unhappiness and tragedy, and Steven decided to keep always a comfortable distance, to be contented with loneliness. After all, it wasn’t worth the pain. It all was going to end at some point.

And if it ever ended, just like with his parents divorce, it was going to be Steven’s fault. And he wouldn’t feel capable of enduring such pain, such loss, of assuming such blame.

And now... he was walking by Wallace’s side after having a beautiful dinner together, his hand gently wrapped with his. The sky was starried like never before, the beach lonely, at ease, the distant music from some acoustic bar nearby as background noise, along with the sea waves soothingly dancing that night.

Steven squeezed his hand, wearing his heart up on his sleeve, and out of nowhere, he said:

“You know how much my parents’ divorce affected me, right?”

That was sudden. So sudden that whoever else would’ve given him a grimace. But it was Wallace, after all. And Wallace just stopped to face him.

“Of course I know it, darling.”

Obviously, he was giving him space to elaborate. He always knew how to offer this gentle silence to him.

“All these days I’ve been remembering those times when they argued in front of me, when I listened to their fights coming from their room, when I heard them talking about divorce... when they were divorcing, when my mom left, when I’d walk into my Dad crying...”

Wallace nodded, understanding.

“That hurt me. It’s been so long since that happened, I was only 8 years old, now I’m in my late twenties and… and I still can see how it affects me.”

At his self-deprecating tone, Wallace felt compelled to add, “and it’s normal. Those are hard things for kids to witness or assimilate.”

And he said so, with infinite kindness and calm understanding, even if it had been Wallace the one to go through really harsh events as a kid, events that would leave a divorce as an insignificant matter if they compared them.

This only squeezed Steven’s heart in yet another way, and so he looked up at the precious teal eyes as he shifted the little box resting inside his pocket.

“I don’t want to be expecting of things being over anymore. I don’t want to be scared of running the same fate anymore.”

“Darling...”

“Wallace…” he wouldn’t escape this talk anymore, he wouldn’t look the other way again. “I know marriage is a dream of yours. But... it terrifies me. I find it pointless. I hate to even think about it.”

And his boyfriend rushed to place his hands on his shoulders and smile apologetically.

“Is it because of the bouquet?” He seemed a bit guilty. “It was a coincidence that it was me the one who caught it, like, I was the tallest out of all those girls, it was to be expected that I caught it. And if I kept it was because I think the flowers and the arrange were beautiful. But...” he chuckled, distressed. “I didn’t mean to push you, Steven. Or to make you feel bad or terrified. You know I’m hurrieless with you, that... damn, for me it doesn’t matter much if we are engaged or married or not as long as we are together and-”

Steven interrumpted him, “I’ve always find marriage pointless. I’ve always thought it’s a foolish excuse to put people together. That is something silly. Something meant to make things messier when they end.”

He nodded, tense.

“I remember that day when I saw my dad crying alone in his room because of my mom... I swore I wouldn’t ever be getting married because love didn’t exist. Because no one was going to be worth the shot if things were doomed to eventually get to that point.”

“Steven...”

“But...” a tear escaped from his eye, and his voice quivered into a whimper. “I don’t want you to ever leave, Wallace. I can’t imagine a life without you by my side every day to hug you and kiss you and show you how much I love you, and... for you, I can make an exception.”

“W-What?”

“I don’t believe in life lasting love. I don’t believe in marriage. But I do believe in you and me. You... you are the only exception, Wallace. I know I won’t ever find a love like yours, I won’t ever find someone to love me with the same patience you do, I won’t ever feel this much for anyone else, I’ll forever hate myself if I miss this chance with you, so...”

Clumsily, shaking so bad, his head feeling so hot and dizzy, Steven got in his knee, and from inside of his pocket took out a small satin box and opened it to reveal the fine piece of jewelry resting there; a golden ring with an aquamarine he mined himself.

“Wallace... w-would you marry me?”

He gasped, it soon turning into a sob, “are you serious?”

“Hell serious. We... we don’t have to run the same fate. And even if we ran it, damn… I rather try this with you, that stop one day to look back in my life and regret never making you my husband. As foolish as it sounds, me, Steven, right now, I’m sure that I want to see you next to me for the rest of my days, and that this will work. It will be my pleasure to try this, even if things get hard, damn, everything sounds like the most thrilling of adventures if you are there.”

But Wallace couldn’t stop crying.

“So... what do you say, my love?”

“Of course I want to marry you, Steven!”

He wheezed, incredulous.

“F-For real?”

“I’ve been fantasizing with this moment more than I should, I was just… scared that you would reject me if I proposed first, and would get angry at me pushing you, and-”

“Who would ever reject _you_?”

“Come on now, Steven- you are the man anyone would want as a husband, and the fact that you pick _me_ from all people you could pick-”

Shaking his head, smiling from ear to ear, shedding more tears, Steven said with simplicity, “I wouldn’t be picking anyone else. I only want you, with your moods, your quirks, your craziness, your sense of humor, your theatrical ways… You’re the one I’ll always want. You are perfect just the way you are.”

Running out of words, biting his lower lip, Wallace nodded.

“Now, may I put the ring on?”

“Please do.”

Steven delicately slid the ring on his finger, and it looked gorgeous beyond words, matching the glow of his teary teal eyes, those eyes in which he saw himself reflected in an entirely trustworthy way.

“I love you so much…” his now fiancé managed with a single thread of voice.

“Wallace...”

And crying, shaking, Steven got back on his feet, only to be met by a bone-crushing hug. And in each tear escaping from his eyes, Steven felt each of his griefs getting cleansed, finally leaving his heart, freeing him, and every time Wallace squeezed him tighter, he felt all of his remaining broken pieces getting together, fixed finally, after decades.

It might be hard, but not pointless. It might be crazy, but never, ever a mistake.

Wallace was his only exception.

“You don’t have to worry,” finally, Wallace whispered to his ear, solemnly. “For you I don’t have any goodbye saved, no… for you I only have eternal love. I promise to you this will be forever, I can feel it in my bones, this will be life-lasting, so, don’t be afraid, darling, because I’ll try, I’ll try every single day.”

“I-I…” but now Steven was a whimpering mess in a deep cathartic trance. “I’ll a-also t-t-try…”

Wallace kissed the top of his head as he cradled him to his chest, “I’ll take good care of you, I promise.”

Steven knew it, Steven knew this hurt, skeptical and still numb heart of his was safe in Wallace’s hands, that he could entrust it to him, fearlessly.

And so, he only replied with a weak, pouty hum of approval, and the embrace became impossibly tighter and warmer, both shaking, in crying bliss.

And with the million twinkling stars above them as witnesses, Steven was in his way to believe in a life lasting love, to build it and maintain it every day, finally clean, ready to be loved and love without more fears menacing his heart. 

Because for Wallace, for this precious man that was so unapologetically himself, so funny, brave, confident, passionate, loving, and that got him by heart, understood him like no one else ever would, and saw him for who he truly was and still decided to stick by his side... all exceptions were worth to be done.

**Author's Note:**

> I know I’ve elaborated on this one hc before but fr, Steven being marriage repulsed until it comes down to Wallace and he finds himself wanting to marry him is one of my favorite hcs ever, I can’t get enough of it.
> 
> Now. Edith is the name I’ve given to Steven’s mom in other works I’ve already written but haven’t posted. I don’t really imagine her as being a bad woman or a irresponsible mom, in my hc Steven is in fact in good terms with her, but I had to write this from the POV of a kid Steven who can’t see the accurate proportions of things because he’s confused, hurt and feeling guilty and angry. 
> 
> Aaaaan, this is all! Hope y’all liked the little mid-week one shot! I’ve been wanting to post this one for a while now and I’m happy to finally share <3


End file.
